


Xeme

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Antarctica, Birds, Birdwatching, Community: 1_million_words, Community: 52_challenge, Gen, Introspection, Pilots, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 23:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/919300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John watches the gulls fly</p>
            </blockquote>





	Xeme

**Author's Note:**

> Written very belatedly for last weekend's challenge at 1_Million_Words, where I was given the prompt "Xeme."
> 
> A Xeme is an Arctic fork-tailed gull that migrates down to the Humboldt current (aka, the strait between Antarctica and South America) during the off season.
> 
> Also for my 52_Challenge prompt, "jealousy."

John stared up at the sky and thought. A few gulls wheeled on the air above him, and he smiled. As a child, John had envied birds for their ability to fly high above their problems. He had dreamed of a day that he could do the same. And one day, thanks to the Air Force, he got his wish. But now, thanks to a couple of pencil-pushing administrators who wouldn't know the meaning of the world loyalty if it kicked them, he was all but grounded.

His old CO had made it clear, when John was transferred to Antarctica, that this was the end of the line for him. He'd be flying clunky helicopters over the ice until either he got sick of it or he pissed off his new CO beyond repair. John glanced up at the gulls again. He'd looked them up a few days ago out of boredom and found out that they were a kind of Arctic gull called a Xeme.

He had never heard of a Xeme before, but over the last few weeks he had begun to appreciate the birds. Their antics amused him, and they often perched on the helicopter when he was servicing it. However, the cold season was coming - not that it wasn't always cold - and soon they would be flying back north. That was the other thing that amused John. The birds were primarily arctic, but they came to the southern tip of America and Africa for the summer. He hypothesized that they actually liked the cold, which was why they avoided the tropics, living in the cold through each of the polar summers.

John wouldn't mind a little visit to the tropics, instead of the unending cold of the Antarctic base. He had hated the heat of the desert once, but now he longed for it. Not the being shot at part, but the warmth. Even in his rooms, the cold permeated, and John found himself wearing two layers of socks at all times.

It was another reason to envy the Xeme gulls.

Somehow they managed to walk around barefoot all the time, even on the cold metal of the chopper, without ruffling a feather. Heck, they _chose_ to live here! They weren't in exile, banished to this barren white wasteland.

Over the next week, the gulls disappeared, winging off North a few at a time. Finally, there was only one perched on his chopper that night, and the next morning it too took off. John frowned as he fueled up. Without the antics of the birds, and the soap opera that he made up for them in his head, how was he going to stand the next few months of punishment duty. The cheerful birds had flocked to him on his first day, begging scraps from his lunch, and John had looked for them every day since. They had made this place bearable for the last few months. And now they were all gone.

"Hey, you got this puppy all fueled up?" a voice asked from behind him.

John spun around and found a general eyeing him. Quickly, he snapped to attention and saluted. "Almost, Sir!"

The general waved him down. "Relax, Major. General O'Neill. I believe you're my escort today?"

John nodded. "Yes Sir."

As they lifted off, John scanned the sky for signs of his Xemes. He saw no birds, but as it turned out, it was a good thing he was looking.


End file.
